A couple of weeks ago, Grandpa Mark came to visit us! We surprised the boys with his visit and they were very surprised and excited to see him :). They spent a lot of time playing inside and outside, reading books, building puzzles, blowing up balloons, playing games, and we got to visit a couple new places. The boy had school most of the time he was here, and they loved having Grandpa putting them on and get them off the bus most days.
Caleb had a couple of activities at school that week that Mark got to attend. One day was Community Day, where all the classes K-5 performed a song, dance, poem, or played instruments. Caleb's class sang It's a Small World. He is the fifth from the left. It was so cute and they did a great job!
The next day Caleb had a Writing Celebration in their class. They worked hard the previous weeks creating and writing stories, and they shared their stories with their family and friends. We are so proud of how far Caleb has come with his writing and reading skills this year!
Caleb wrote a story about Pokeman :)
Grandpa and the boys :)
Over the weekend, we were supposed to visit Wadi Rum, but the weather down there was rainy and windy, so we instead headed east and visited three desert castles - #'s 6 (Qasr al-Kharanah), #7 (Quasayr Amra), and #8(Qasr al-Azraq) on the map:
First castle was Qasr al-Kharanah, believed to be built before the early 8th century AD, is one of the best-known desert castles in Jordan. It is believed to have been operated as an inn or resting place for traders, as it contains many small rooms inside, and is one of the earliest examples of Islamic architecture in the region. It was in the middle of the desert and right off of the major highway, and it was fun to explore!
As we were leaving, the Jordanian motorcycle rider's club arrived!
This kind man let Benjamin hop on :).
Courtesy of Nathan's iPhone...it takes really nice pictures!
We accidentally passed by Quasar Amra, so we visited Qasr al-Azraq first. Which way should we go?
Unlike the first castle which was isolated in the desert, this one was right the middle of the city of al-Azraq, and it contained a lot of history. This castle was first used by the Roman as a military site, then around the 8th century AD, a mosque was built in the middle of the grounds. In the 13th century, the Ayyubids turned the castle into what it is today, and it was later used by the Ottoman armies. During the Arab Revolt, T.E. Lawrence based his operations there in 1917-1918, that he wrote about in his book
Seven Pillars of Wisdom, and the being associated with Lawrence of Arabia has made this a well-known and visited castle.
Thanks again to Nathan's phone :). This is the inside of the castle and we were able to walk inside the rooms and along the perimeter. We even got to go in to Lawrence of Arabia's room!
Boys doing what they like to do best....climb!
On our way back to Amman, we visited Quaysar 'Amra, which was the smallest and one of the most interesting of the 3 castles. It was built in the 8th century AD during the first Islamic caliphate, and it was considered the 'pleasure palace' for royalty. It contains many decorative murals in the bath house and reception hall, which were considered unique and 'un-Islamic' in style. There were portraits of hunting scenes, animals, people depicting the story of life, not fully dressed women playing musical instruments, and the zodiac signs in the domed part of the bath house.
We enjoyed the time touring the desert castles!
Another day we went to the Children's museum. The boys always enjoy going there, and they actually updated it with a few new exhibits!
Pushing hard on the pedals to get the lights to light up.
The enjoyed time at the park near our house. When Mark arrived it was near 70 degrees and he was worried he had too many warm clothes. Within a few days of being here, the weather turned pretty chilly, but it was still nice to play outside! I don't have any pictures of them playing baseball, but grandpa brought them new gloves and he played catch with them a bit outside, to prepare for t-ball season!
Caleb loves books, and he was really into Aunt Elizabeth's anatomy book that Mark brought over to her.
It was such a wonderful visit with Mark, and we are so thankful for the time we all had together. And one of the most special things we got to do was share our pregnancy news with him in person!
Until next time grandpa Mark, we love you!
